Appling Farms Warehouse Sells for $2.7 Million

Soyab Malani and Sumaira Jamal bought the Class A industrial facility May 30 from John W. Pike Jr. and Constance C. Pike, who had acquired the then-vacant property for $621,125 in 2004 from BICO Associates, which is affiliated with the Belz family.

Built in 2005, the warehouse sits on 4.3 acres along the south side of Appling Farms Parkway, northeast of the Whitten Road exit of Interstate 40.

The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2013 appraisal is $2.6 million.

In conjunction with the purchase, Soyab Malani and Sumaira Jamal filed a $2.5 million deed of trust through the sellers. Both Malani and Jamal signed the deed.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Home Builders Groups Form West Tennessee Association

The Memphis Area Home Builders Association is joining with two West Tennessee associations to form the new West Tennessee Home Builders Association.

The Jackson Area HBA, the Dyersburg Area HBA and the Memphis Area HBA are combining to form the new group.

“The main thing we do now is fight legislative issues,” said Don Caylor, 2013 president of Memphis Area Home Builders Association. “I think it will give us a more unified voice in the state of Tennessee.”

Caylor said membership at MAHBA dipped along with the economy and partnering with other organizations would provide builders with more opportunities.

“The downturn in the economy certainly opened the door for it,” Caylor said.

“We’ve really taken a shell in the belly of our ship with this economy,” he said. “Things are getting better and I think it will better position us when the economy bounces back.”

A formal announcement about the new organization and the 2013 VESTA Home Show is scheduled for Friday, June 14.

– Amos Maki

State Sales Tax on Food Drops to 5 Percent July 1

The Tennessee Department of Revenue is advising businesses selling food to start making the changes necessary to reflect a drop in the state sales tax rate on food that takes effect July 1.

The Tennessee Legislature passed the law earlier this year dropping the state sales tax rate on food from 5.25 percent to 5 percent effective with the start of the new fiscal year. The change does not affect the local option sales tax rate.

The reduced state tax rate applies to food and food ingredients. It does not apply to prepared food, dietary supplements, tobacco, candy and dietary supplements, which are taxed at the 7 percent state sales tax rate.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed the food sales tax roll back into law in May. While the legislature changed the sales tax rate on food, it did not change the parts of existing law that define the food and food ingredients that the tax applies to.

– Bill Dries

Memphis Firm Wins $3.7 Million Award for Disabled Trucker

Memphis-based law firm Bailey & Greer PLLC scored a victory when a Shelby County Circuit Court jury awarded $3.7 million to Donriel A. Borne for injuries he sustained when the 18-wheeler he was driving was struck from behind by another big rig on Interstate 55 in Memphis.

Greer said the decision to take the case to trial was made after attempts to resolve the matter through negotiation and mediation failed following a defense offer of $25,000.

– Jennifer Johnson Backer

CBIZ Hires Corrigan as Managing Director

The Memphis office of CBIZ MHM LLC has expanded the depth of its tax services division by hiring J. Eustis Corrigan Jr. as managing director.

Corrigan brings with him more than 25 years of comprehensive tax, accounting and strategic business consulting experience. Before joining CBIZ, Corrigan was a tax partner with a Top 50 accounting firm where he held a leadership role for all tax services. Corrigan joins CBIZ with extensive experience advising publicly-traded and privately-held companies about complex tax and financial issues. His major areas of expertise include federal and state corporate taxation, entity planning and structuring, mergers and acquisitions, and accounting methods.

– Andy Meek

House Gives FHA Flexibility on Reverse Mortgages

The U.S. House has approved a bill giving the Federal Housing Administration the power to make quick fixes to its financially-troubled reverse mortgage program.

The measure lets the agency make changes to the program using mortgage letters rather than its usual rulemaking process that can take months or even years.

The FHA is struggling with $5 billion in reverse mortgage losses this year. Reverse mortgages allow people older than 62 to borrow against their home equity, stay in their home and use the money for living expenses.

The agency plans to use its new authority to require financial assessments of borrowers applying for mortgages, limit large up-front payments to borrowers and to require borrowers to set up escrow accounts for taxes and insurance.

– The Associated Press

US Chief Executives Optimistic About Hiring

Chief executives for the largest U.S. companies are more optimistic about sales over the next six months and plan to add more workers.

The Business Roundtable said Wednesday that its April-June quarterly survey found 32 percent of its members expect to expand payrolls in the next six months. That’s up from 29 percent in the January-March survey. And 78 percent expect their sales to increase. That’s up from 72 percent from the previous survey.

Consumers have kept spending this year, despite an increase in Social Security taxes. That’s helped the economy grow at a modest pace.

Still, most of the CEOs don’t expect growth to accelerate. They forecast growth of 2.2 percent this year, only slightly better than the 2.1 percent forecast in the first-quarter survey.

“CEOs see the U.S. economy still on a slow road to recovery,” said Jim McNerney, chief executive of Boeing and the chairman of the Business Roundtable.

The better sales outlook reflects modest growth in the United States and “continued high growth in Asia” and other emerging markets, McNerney said, offset by continuing recession in Europe.

Small-business owners are also a bit more optimistic, according to a separate survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, released Tuesday. The NFIB’s small business optimism index rose for the second straight month to 94.4. That’s the second-highest level since the recession began in December 2007. Greater confidence in future sales and economic growth drove the increase.

The Business Roundtable represents CEOs of the 200 largest U.S. corporations. The latest survey results are based on 141 responses received between May 13 and May 31.

The group surveys CEOs about sales, capital spending and hiring. The results are combined into an index which gauges their outlook for the economy. That index rose to 84.3 from 81 in March and only 65.6 in December. Any reading above 50 suggests expansion. The current reading is above its long-term average of 79.2. The survey has been conducted for 11 years.

– The Associated Press

US Budget Deficit Widens $139 Billion in May

The government reported Wednesday that the U.S. budget deficit widened in May by $139 billion. But the annual deficit stayed on track to finish below $1 trillion for the first time since 2008.

Steady economic growth and higher tax rates have boosted the government’s tax revenue. At the same time, government spending has barely increased.

With the May increase, the deficit through the first eight months of this budget year totaled $626 billion, according to the Treasury.

That’s down $218 billion lower than the same period last year.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the deficit won’t grow much before the budget year ends on Sept. 30.